Japan

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Japan, one of the world’s most densely populated countries, is a volcanic archipelago located between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean.

In the mid-nineteenth century, following more than 200 years of cultural isolation, Japan began a period of rapid modernization and military expansion that ended with its defeat in World War II and the signing of a pacifist constitution. The country experienced rapid economic growth following the war and, despite a major downturn in the 1990s, has remained an economic superpower. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, prompted by a perceived threat from China, a decrease in American military presence and recent territorial disputes, has called for a reinterpretation of the constitution to allow for strengthening of Japan’s armed forces.

Scroll below to learn more about Japan using our article archive and chronology of breaking news.

Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 27, 2015

Japanese families cut spending more than expected and retail sales fall for first time in seven months in January; inflation rate reaches 10-month low. MORE

Feb. 13, 2015

Japanese Prim Min Shinzo Abe in speech to Parliament makes impassioned appeal to change country's pacifist Constitution; parliamentary majority of two-thirds in both chambers, and ratification by more than half of voters in public referendum, is needed before Constitution can be amended. MORE

Feb. 13, 2015

Shibuya Ward district in central Tokyo plans to recognize same-sex couples, giving them same legal rights as married opposite-sex couples; becomes first local government in Japan to do so at a time when issue of gay marriage is stirring in many countries. MORE

Feb. 10, 2015

Amami Oshima Journal; Japanese island of Amami Oshima, long celebrated for its traditional kimono production techniques, has fallen on hard times amid economic squeeze and Westward-shifting tastes; only 500 of island's 73,000 residents remain in kimono industry, and many of those left are in their 70s and 80s; many in nation worry that knowledge and skill to produce the finest kimonos could soon be lost. MORE

Feb. 10, 2015

McDonald's says January sales fell 12.6 percent at restaurants open at least 13 months in division including Asia; says sales in Japan were damaged by customer perception issues. MORE

Feb. 6, 2015

Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe hopes to begin process of revising Japan's Constitution in summer of 2016, after scheduled Parliamentary elections, signaling his intention to change country's postwar pacifism. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Political maneuvering begins in Japan in wake of beheadings of two Japanese hostagers by Islamic State; Prime Min Shinzo Abe requests eased legal restrictions on mlitary, enabling it to take part in police actions overseas; he also suggests amending Constitution to protect its citizens abroad. MORE

Feb. 2, 2015

Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe expresses outrage and anger in wake of Islamic State video showing beheading of journalist Kenji Goto, after another Japanese hostage, Huruma Yukawa, was killed earlier; crisis has produced watershed moment for pacifist country whose leader is now vowing retribution. MORE

Jan. 30, 2015

Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe objects to depiction of Japan's actions during World War II in McGraw-Hill Education textbook used in some California public schools; conservatives like Abe dispute portrayal of Japan as sole aggressor in war and in particular reject description of Japanese brothels; China and North Korea call Abe's views revisionist. MORE

Jan. 26, 2015

Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, two Japanese hostages held by Islamic State militants, have become linked by fate in Syria; Yukawa, apparently unhinged man who wandered into country in search of new life, has been beheaded; surviving hostage Goto is respected journalist. MORE

Jan. 25, 2015

Video posted on YouTube appears to show decapitated body of Haruna Yukawa, Japanese hostage of Islamic State; Japan's Prime Min Shinzo Abe condemns apparent killing and demands immediate release of second hostage Kenji Goto as United States and Japanese governments work to authenticate video. MORE

Jan. 24, 2015

Junko Ishido, mother of Kenji Goto, journalist held by Islamic State militant group, pleads with kidnappers not to kill her son; appeal comes at Tokyo news conference held hours before Islamic State's stated ransom deadline. MORE

Jan. 23, 2015

Japanese government confirms that two men seen in a hostage video released by Islamic State are citizens of Japan and says all efforts are being made to contact ISIS militants before ransom deadline is reached; crisis is testing leadership of Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe, who has been working to put his nation into a more global spotlight. MORE

Jan. 21, 2015

Profile of George Washington freshman forward Yuta Watanabe, who has become the first Japanese-born player to earn a Division 1 basketball scholarship; Watanabe, who is known for his cool composure and game-changing plays, hopes to inspire other Japanese players. MORE

Jan. 21, 2015

Japanese public sees online video posted by Islamic State showing militant threatening to kill two Japanese hostages, confronting pacifist nation with crisis; Prime Min Shinzo Abe vows to try to save men while also saying he would not give in to terrorist threats. MORE

Jan. 15, 2015

Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe's government proposes budget in which country will increase its public spending to record levels while also borrowing less; proposals seeks to simultaneously address country's slide into recession and its massive debt. MORE

Jan. 10, 2015

Honda is distancing itself from its American subsidiary in wake of record $70 million fine levied by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for underreporting of serious accidents involving its cars in the United States; treating problem as American one is possible in part because American subsidiary is so large as to seem almost semiautonomous; fine could strengthen suspicion in Japan that US regulators are more harsh with Japanese companies than with their US rivals. MORE

Jan. 8, 2015

McDonald's Corporation chain in Japan issues apology and vows to improve safety of its products after diners find foreign objects, including a human tooth, in their food. MORE

Jan. 5, 2015

Controversy surrounds Tokyo's Olympic stadium designed by Pritzker-winning architect Zaha Hadid and set to be built for 2020 Summer Games; some Japanese architects disapprove of design, underscoring strong emotions and opinions that surround Olympic stadiums, expensive public projects that can come to represent country's identity. MORE

Jan. 2, 2015

Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe has pledged to make it easier for women with children to continue working; promise is part of his broader effort to reinvigorate economy, which is struggling with twin problems of shrinking population and smaller labor force; Abe has focused on support for child care, which is in short supply, but his policies face added challenge of changing entrenched corporate culture that has been unfriendly to working mothers. MORE

Dec. 30, 2014

Japan and South Korea announce they will share military intelligence about North Korean missile and nuclear weapons programs, along with United States; defense analysts say pact is small but symbolic agreement bringing together estranged Asian allies. MORE

Dec. 29, 2014

Japanese technology firm Mixi was formerly dominant social network in its home market, but is now strongly profiting from its hit smartphone game Monster Strike; game has been downloaded more than 20 million times, mostly in Japan, and is making Mixi about $2 million a day in revenue. MORE

Dec. 28, 2014

Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe's government approves $29 billion in stimulus spending, plan announced after Abe's ruling coalition won election giving it mandate; analysts question degree to which stimulus spending will stimulate growth, which government says will increase by 0.7 percent. MORE

Dec. 27, 2014

McDonald's says it will resume serving all portions of French fries in Japan after limiting customers to only orders of small fries in December due to inventory shortage. MORE

Dec. 27, 2014

Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe is planning fresh stimulus of about 3.5 trillion yen, or $29 billion, to address country's recession. MORE

Dec. 25, 2014

Prime Min Shinzo Abe of Japan begins new term in office; vows to revise the nation's Constitution, which renounces war, despite opposition from voters and to set up deregulation policies as part of his plan to revive and grow country's economy. MORE

Dec. 21, 2014

Tokyo Electric Power Company announces that it has safely removed radioactive fuel from most vulnerable of four heavily damaged reactor buildings at Fukushima nuclear plant; is significant step in clean up effort, but workers face far more challenging task of removing ruined fuel cores from three reactors that melted down in 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. MORE

Dec. 21, 2014

Sylviane Gold reviews two exhibitions of Japanese weapons, armor and antique kimonos at Katonah Museum of Art (Metropolitan/Westchester). MORE

Dec. 20, 2014

Government-backed Japanese institute Riken accepts resignation of Haruko Obokata, one of its highest-profile scientists, after she fails to replicate research results that were once hailed as breakthrough in stem cell research. MORE

Dec. 19, 2014

Group of prominent South Koreans have started signature writing campaign to help Japan win Nobel Peace Prize for constitutional provision that renounces war, hoping international recognition for Japan's pacifism will curb Prime Min Shinzo Abe's tilt toward nationalism. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

Retired journalist Takashi Uemura, criticized by rightists for writing about Korean women who were forced work in Japanese military brothels during World War II, receives contract renewal from Hokusei Gakuen University; institution had been considering cancelling Uemura's teaching contract but bowed to show of public support on his behalf. MORE

Dec. 15, 2014

Sony Pictures' decision to greenlight film The Interview, comedy that centers on assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has led company into geopolitical mess; decision enraged Kim, and company became target of brutal cyberattack, with suspicion falling on North Korean cyberunit; leaked emails reveal unusual tension over film between Sony's executives in US and Japan, where North Korea looms as serious threat. MORE

Dec. 15, 2014

Governing party of Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe wins landslide victory in parliamentary election, despite low voter turnout; early elections were characterized as a referendum on Abe's economic-revival policies, but it remains unclear what Abe will choose to do with mandate. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Op-Ed article by Prof R Taggart Murphy submits that Japanese concept of shikata ga nai, or hopelessness, helps to explain why voters are listless before national elections despite widespread disagreement with policies of governing Liberal Democratic Party; says that apathy is likely to lead to victory by Prime Min Shinzo Abe and perpetuation of policies that harm economy and general public while helping bureaucratic oligarchy. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Decision by Japanese Prime Min Shinzo Abe's decision to hold snap elections after data showed Japan in a recession may pay off for his governing party; voters are displeased with Abe's economic policies but feel strongly that his opposition badly mishandled their stint in power a few years ago. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

South Korea rejects International Olympic Committee's suggestion to share 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games with Japan in effort to reduce cost. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

Japanese prosecutors charge Chisako Kakehi with murdering her husband Isao Kakehi, one of at least six men who have died while in relationship with her. MORE

Dec. 9, 2014

Muko Journal; case against Chisako Kakehi, who is accused of killing her new husband Isao Kakehi in Muko, Japan, as well as five other men, has captured national headlines and prompted tabloids to dub her the Black Widow; if allegations are true, Kakehi preyed on one of biggest fears of Japan's rapidly growing legions of retirees, who fear spending end of their lives alone. MORE

Dec. 4, 2014

Editorial denounces revisionist scheming by right-wing political forces in Japan to deny shameful truth that Japanese military forced thousands of women into sexual slavery during World War II; contends Prime Min Shinzo Abe's government, which is encouraging these political forces, is playing a dangerous game by pandering to those who want to whitewash nation's wartime history. MORE

Dec. 3, 2014

Japanese right-wing news media and politicians are attacking nation's second-largest newspaper Asahi Shimbun after reporter's investigation into Japanese military's World War II coercion of foreign women into prostitution; Asahi has retracted articles, but they reignited long-standing dispute over country's culpability for its wartime behavior that has flared under Prime Min Shinzo Abe's conservative government. MORE

Nov. 30, 2014

Group of young Japanese professionals, led by Buddhist priest Kankoh Sakitsu, unearths skeletal remains on Guadalcanal, site of one of World War II's most ferocious battles; Sakitsu began organizing expeditions in 2008, when he learned that remains of thousands of his countrymen were still missing and veterans were growing too old to continue to look for them. MORE

Nov. 30, 2014

Editorial criticizes Japanese political leaders for cynically planning to resume whale hunting in the Southern Ocean; contends country's plan is variation on same evasion of treaty obligations outlined in International Court of Justice ruling. MORE

Nov. 29, 2014

Yomiuri Shimbun, largest-circulation daily newspaper in Japan, prints apology for using term 'sex slaves' to refer to women that many historians say were coerced into working in brothels supervised by Japanese military during World War II; apology comes as conservative newspaper works to correct what it sees as unfairly negative view of Japan's actions during war. MORE

Nov. 29, 2014

Japan's Transportation Min Akihiro Ohta says his ministry plans to force expanded recalls of Takata-made airbags; newly active approach in Japan comes as American authorities have tightened scrutiny of Takata and the automakers that use its products. MORE

Nov. 28, 2014

Japanese Transportation Min Akihiro Ohta says country will follow the United States in forcing automakers to recall all vehicles containing potentially dangerous driver's-side airbags made by the Takata Corporation. MORE

Nov. 26, 2014

Japanese Transport Ministry orders 10 domestic and foreign automakers to speed up repairs of defective airbags made by Takata Corporation; says almost half of more than two million vehicles recalled in Japan are still being driven. MORE

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February 27, 2015, Friday

More than five million Chinese were estimated to have traveled abroad over the Lunar New Year holiday that ended on Wednesday, a 10 percent increase over the year before and the first time Chinese tourists bound for foreign lands outnumbered those...

Vladimir V. Putin is likely to be a featured guest at a military parade in Tiananmen Square marking the defeat of Japan in World War II, an event seen as underscoring the anti-Japanese theme of China’s foreign poicy under Xi Jinping.

Toru Yamanaka, a photographer for Agence France-Presse, visited places in Japan destroyed by the March 2011 tsunami, photographing them from the same perspective that other photographers captured a year earlier.